"I don't know."
I utter this phrase a lot, and it gets me into trouble. I should probably know better. Socrates said, "all I know is that I know nothing." He was put to death.
No man is an island...
To say, "I don't know" is not taken as open-mindedness, but evasion, or lack of effort. Life come with so many pre-packaged answers. Pick one, please. An open mind is an open wound. Grab a bandage. Disinfect.
Everybody's shouting, which side are you on?The journey inward demands constant tolls paid outward. Community taxes our time. Our dreams. Hopefully it repays this some day.
never send to know for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee.Love is never selfish, but imagination, curiosity and creativity are.
Imagination expands the choices. We once had oracles and gods to line our paths and explain our fates. Glory and death at Troy, or a long life in the sticks. Now it is 'I don't know,' followed by 'What if?,' followed by 'Let's see,' followed by 'Let's try.'
'I don't know' is the first step into something different. It may look destructive. It may be destructive. I don't know. We can't promise with certainty. To bite from the Tree of Knowledge is not to gain certainty, but to welcome in more unknowing. To be an artist is to let the snake tickle your ear.
Uncertainty is psychologically traumatizing. See poor Ophelia. See mad Hamlet. See Doctor Faustus. Will we encounter the same? I don't know. Imagination lifts our eyes over the horizon, where we hope that paradise is hiding. I think I see hints of light.
But I don't know.
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What's the one things you do know? Or one thing you don't know?
**
Image credit: William Blake: The Temptation and Fall of Eve - illustration to Milton's 'Paradise Lost' (1808, pen and watercolor on paper), from Wikimedia Commons
The one thing I do know is that if I don't get off my butt, my writing career will never take off. I also know that if I don't get off my butt, it will continue to grow. ;)
ReplyDeleteGreat post! Just another A to Z Challenger stopping by...
*laughing*
DeleteThen I'll wish you luck in 'getting off your butt.'
'Community taxes our time. Our dreams. Hopefully it repays this some day.'
ReplyDeleteHmm.
"I don't know" -- the start/finish line. Some people run the race, others count the laps. They both seem to end up at the same place, the start/finish line.
ReplyDeleteWhat about those of us who trip and fall along the way? :)
DeleteI know that I love the energy of the A to Z Blogging Challenge, and I like your mythology inspired blog/post.
ReplyDeleteThanks for visiting & following my blog!
Play off the Page
Thanks, Mary. That type of energy is certainly exciting.
DeleteI don't know much at all and I don't know that I know anything for sure. I constantly question myself and my life and often wish I knew what I was meant to be.
ReplyDeleteI think this is often true of people with active minds. Sometimes it's a blessing, sometimes it feels like a curse.
DeleteI have no problem with "I don't know." I think it's usually the smart answer. What I don't like is "maybe." I'm a yes or no kind of gal.
ReplyDeleteI love reading your posts. I don't know, they're so...imaginative. :)
I'm probably guilty of 'maybe' as well. Something to work on. Maybe. :)
Delete"I love reading your posts. I don't know, they're so...imaginative. :)"
Thank you!
Hello, Hektor! All I know for sure is that I don't know more things than I should. But that's the wonderful thing about life: you can always learn, each and every day!
ReplyDeleteHope you're having a great week and happy A to Z!!
Hi, Laura.
Delete"you can always learn, each and every day"
Indeed. And I do try to do this. :)
This explains a lot. Every time I go to Walmart, that's the response I get when I ask for help. Evasion, indeed...
ReplyDeleteHa! I promise that was not me! I'm very polite and helpful in professional situations.
DeleteEvery question I get answered leads me to more questions. The proverbial neverending peeling of an onion.
ReplyDelete"Every question I get answered leads me to more questions."
DeleteI think that's what happens when we ask the right questions...
Can we know anything for certain due to Heisenberg's Uncertainty Principle? Everything we observe, we change...
ReplyDeleteProbably depends on where we set our threshold for 'certainty.'
DeleteI like a person who can admit s/he doesn't know something. I do it all the time. There's so much I don't know. Recently I wanted to write poetry, but realized I didn't know much about it. Now I'm taking a class.
ReplyDeleteGood luck with the poetry!
Delete"There's so much I don't know"
Yeah, I realize that more and more each day.
But "I don't know" is so often the truth! I'd rather tell the truth then sound like somebody who's trying to sound impressive! :)
ReplyDeleteYeah, I understand why a dismissive 'I don't know' is frustrating (and I try to avoid those), but sometimes it's genuinely the best we can do.
DeleteI don't take I don't know as negative. You don't know what you don't know.
ReplyDeleteWhat I do know - where I'm going when I die.
What I don't know - if I will ever finish my third book.
"What I do know - where I'm going when I die."
DeleteThis seems rather Homeric. :)
"What I don't know - if I will ever finish my third book."
Well... I don't know for sure, but I think there's a darn good chance you will!
"All I know is that I know nothing" reminds me of my favorite quote: "There is no truth; there is only perspective," which if you think about it, is almost the same thing.
ReplyDeleteWell I don't know if I could take that far of a leap... :)
DeleteI'm going to have to pay attention now to see how often I say "I don't know." I'm not sure (I think I say that one often). What I do observe quite often is the tendency of many (commentators in newspapers are notable for this) to put things in two buckets--it's either this or that--but we don't live in a binary world. It's multifaceted, and the complexity is what's exciting. Curiosity and acts of imagination give us the best chance to get past that. Or at least I think so . . .
ReplyDelete"It's multifaceted, and the complexity is what's exciting."
DeleteAgreed, and well-said.
"Curiosity and acts of imagination give us the best chance to get past that."
I like this notion as well.
When I think "I don't know", my next thought is "I'll try to find out".
ReplyDeleteA noble instinct, for sure. I don't think of 'I don't know' as a comfortable endpoint in many cases.
Delete>"To say, 'I don't know' is not taken as open-mindedness, but evasion, or lack of effort."
ReplyDeleteGreat post, Hektor! Quite philosophical and very blunt. Love it!
Thanks, Vero.
DeleteGreat post! I liked it too. I don't know a lot of things and mumble ''I don't know" a lot. One thing I don't know is what will happen in the future and I have a difficult time accepting that!
ReplyDeleteNikki – inspire nordic
Thanks, Nikki.
Delete"One thing I don't know is what will happen in the future and I have a difficult time accepting that!"
Yeah, I think this one gets most of us. :)
I'm definitely happy to admit that "I don't know". Nor do I stress much about what the answer may in fact be. There's no point!
ReplyDelete"There's no point!"
ReplyDeleteYet it's still so easy to stress over things...